The Rudolf Steiner Archive

9. Jesus and his Historical Background

[ 1 ] The soil from which the spirit of Christianity grew is to be sought in the wisdom of the Mysteries. All that was needed was for the basic conviction to gain the upper hand that this spirit had to be introduced into life to a greater extent than had happened through the mystery system itself. But such a basic conviction also existed in wide circles. One need only look at the attitude to life of the Essaeans and Therapeutae, which existed long before the emergence of Christianity. The Essaeans were a self-contained Palestinian sect, whose number at the time of Christ is estimated at four thousand. They formed a community that required its members to lead a life that developed a higher self within the soul and thus brought about rebirth. Those who were accepted were subjected to a strict test to determine whether they were ready to prepare themselves for a higher life. Those who were accepted had to undergo a probationary period. A solemn vow had to be made not to reveal the secrets of the way of life to strangers. Life itself was suited to crush the lower nature in man so that the spirit slumbering within him would be awakened more and more. Those who had experienced the spirit within themselves to a certain level rose to a higher degree of order; and they enjoyed a corresponding authority that was not externally imposed but naturally conditioned in their basic convictions. Related to the Essaeans were the therapists living in Egypt. All desirable information about their way of life can be obtained from a writing by the philosopher Philo "On the contemplative life". (The dispute as to whether this writing is genuine or spurious must today be regarded as settled and the assumption that Philo really described the life of a community that existed long before Christianity and was well known to him must be regarded as justified. Compare this with G. R. Mead, Fragmente eines verschollenen Glaubens, Leipzig 1902). One need only read individual passages from this work to see what was at stake. "The dwellings of the members of the community are extremely simple; they provide only the necessary protection against the extreme heat of the sun and the extreme cold. The dwellings are not close together as in the cities, for neighborhood is less attractive to one who seeks solitude; nor are they far apart, so as not to impede the sociable relations which are so dear to them, and so that they can easily give each other help in case of a robber attack. In every dwelling there is a sacred room, called a temple or monastery, a small room, or chamber, or cell, in which they pursue the mysteries of the higher life ... They also possess works of ancient writers, who once directed their school and left many explanations of the method used in the allegorical writings ... Their interpretation of the sacred writings is focused on the deeper meaning of the allegorical narratives." - As you can see, this is a generalization of what was also sought in the narrower circle of the Mysteries. Only, of course, the strict character will have been weakened by such a generalization. - The Essaean and Therapeutic communities form a natural transition from the Mysteries to Christianity. Christianity, however, wanted to make into a matter of humanity what they had made into a sectarian matter. This, of course, provided the basis for a further weakening of the strict character.

[ 2 ] The existence of such sects makes it clear to what extent the time was ripe for a grasp of the mystery of Christ. In the Mysteries, man was artificially prepared so that the higher spiritual world would open up in his soul at the appropriate level. Within the Essaean or Therapeutic community, the soul sought to make itself ripe for the awakening of the "higher man" through a corresponding way of life. A further step is then to come to the conclusion that a human individuality could have developed in repeated earthly lives to ever higher and higher levels of perfection. Those who could sense this could also have a feeling that an individuality of high spirituality had appeared in Jesus. The higher the spirituality, the greater the possibility of accomplishing something significant. And so the individuality of Jesus could become capable of accomplishing that deed which the Gospels so mysteriously hint at in the process of John's baptism and yet so clearly describe as something most important by the way they point to it. - The personality of Jesus became capable of receiving Christ, the Logos, into his own soul, so that he became flesh in it. Since this absorption, the "I" of Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, and the outer personality is the bearer of the Logos. This event, that the "I" of Jesus becomes the Christ, is represented by the baptism of John. During the Mystery Era, "union with the spirit" was a matter for the initiates of a few people. In the case of the Essaeans, a whole community was to cultivate a life through which its members could come to the "union"; through the Christ-event something - precisely the deeds of the Christ - was to be placed before all mankind, so that the "union" could be a matter of knowledge for all mankind.